Lollipops
by Queenbean3
Summary: Treasure Planet prequel fic. Jim, age 9, goes to the park one day and meets an interesting little girl.


Lollipops

Spring on Montressor could best be described as 'wet.' From March to May, the sky would pour down gallons of water, drenching the dusty planet below. Every few days, the storms would wear themselves out and the rainfall would stop, allowing the sun to come out. The denizens of the town of Benbow knew that these days were precious indeed, and no matter how muddy it was outside, they would take full advantage of the warmth in whatever ways they could.

Sarah Hawkins would have liked to go out and enjoy the sun, too, but her work at the Benbow Inn was higher on her list of priorities than her personal enjoyment. Besides, she needed to take every chance she could to earn money. However, she would not have her son stay inside on such a beautiful day. Jim had been in the shed out back that morning. He was sitting on the floor with some contraption in his lap, completely absorbed in the process of taking it apart, studying the wires and circuits within and then reassembling it. Just as he beginning to devise a plan to transform it into something amazing, Sarah walked in. It was then that he knew his fun was over.

Soon the boy found himself trudging down the muddy road with his hands in his pockets. His mother had instructed him to go to the park and play for one hour. He was sulking to the best of his ability, blue eyes staring down at the ground and mouth set firmly in a pout. When he arrived at the park, there were several other children playing there already. He recognized many of them from his class at school. They didn't seem to mind the dampness in the sandbox or puddles of water at the bottom of the slides. In fact, since many of them were amphibians, they enjoyed it.

Being a mammal, Jim had no desire to get any wetter than was necessary. He also had little desire to associate with his peers outside of school. He scanned the playground with his eyes, searching for something dry, and hopefully far away from everyone else. Finally he spotted the perfect place; the swing set. There were three wooden swings hanging from ropes there, and each of them was empty. It was also at the far side of the playground, where nobody would notice him.

Once he reached the structure, Jim touched the middle swing, checking for wetness. It was a bit moist, but not unbearably so. Taking the damp ropes in both his hands, he seated himself and watched the other children playing with each other. He thought about actually swinging, but he wasn't in the mood. It had not been his idea to come there in the first place. If he had his way, he would still be in the shed working on his greatest achievement yet. Instead, here he was, being forced to do something he just didn't want to do. Out of the many things he hated, that was near the top of his list.

He decided to watch the other children on the playground. They were playing some form of tag, running and laughing as if there were nothing bad in the world. From the way they interacted, he could tell they were friends. If one of them happened to slip and fall into the mud, another would stop to help them up again. Then they would both laugh and continue playing together.

Resentment began changing to sorrow. Jim became acutely aware of how alone he was, sitting there on the swing all by himself. He was like a desert island, completely isolated from the rest of the world. It was not a new sensation to him, yet it had never been a pleasant one. He always knew that if he slipped and fell in the mud, no one would help him up again.

A familiar tingling in his eyes and nose forced him to look down at the ground between his feet. He couldn't cry, not here where people could see him. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth, trying to make the tingling stop. As he gripped the ropes of his swing, water seeped out of the fibers and between his fingers, like the tears he would not let flow. At last, the tingling stopped. His eyelids slid open slowly, allowing the damp sand to fill his field of vision again.

"Hey."

He heard the voice, but did not respond to it, thinking it was speaking to someone else. When no one replied to it, he slowly lifted his eyes up. What he saw was the last thing he expected to see. Standing a few feet away from him was a girl about the same age as him, whom he did not recognize. She had the reddest hair he had ever seen, and was looking right at him with green eyes. She had her hands tucked into the pockets of her bright blue jumper. The garment was frayed at the edges and had patches sewn on it here and there, yet was still much more colorful than the drab attire common to most natives of Montressor.

Jim suddenly felt very awkward. He had absolutely no idea how to behave in this situation. Girls rarely spoke to him, and if they did, it was not because they wanted to. His mind was suddenly filled with questions. Who was this girl? Why was she talking to him? Why was his mouth suddenly so dry?

They stared at each other in silence for a while. Then she smiled at him brightly. "Hi!"

Jim quickly looked down at the ground in embarrassment. He couldn't understand why, but she was making him very nervous. He began wishing she would go away, but he heard her footsteps in the wet sand as she walked toward him and his stomach began tying itself into knots. He wanted to jump up from the swing and run, but his legs wouldn't move. He wanted to do something, anything at all, but he was frozen.

She stopped a few inches away from him. He could see the toes of her black boots, spotted with dry mud and bits of sand. Through his peripheral vision he could see her watching him curiously.

"Are you okay?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

He didn't answer. His mouth had gone dry again.

"Hmm." She moved her head trying to meet his gaze, but he dodged her eyes again. "Let me guess. You lost your favorite toy."

She waited for him to answer. He continued to stare at the ground.

"Your pet fish died?"

She waited again. Still no answer.

"You got braces? A hangnail? The Viridian Flu?"

At the last guess, Jim gave her an odd look from beneath his eyebrows. She was pleased with his response and leaned sideways, putting her face directly in front of his. "Come on. Whatever it is, it _can't_ be worse than the Viridian Flu."

She flashed a toothy grin at him, still leaning sideways and looking very silly. Jim only glared back at her in silence as hard as he could. He decided that she was annoying, and, with a disdainful snort, turned his head and tried to ignore her. The girl frowned and stood up straight. She had intended to make him laugh, or at least smile, but obviously her plan hadn't worked. She began twirling some of her short hair around one finger as she tried to think of another method. Then she smiled as an idea came to her.

"I bet you can't guess what I've got in my pocket." she said.

Jim looked up at her, arching one small eyebrow in annoyance. She was a stubborn one, all right. But maybe if he played along with her, she'd leave him alone.

"A rock." he mumbled.

She shook her head. "Nope. Guess again."

"_Two_ rocks."

She giggled and shook her head again.

"Give me a hint."

"It's not a rock."

He pouted. "That's all I get?"

"Yep." She hid her arms behind her back, swaying from side to side and green eyes twinkling secretively.

Jim furrowed his brows in thought. He had no idea what a girl would keep in her pockets, so he decided to say things he saw around him. "Is it a bug?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"A stick?" he guessed.

"Nope."

"A flower?"

"Nope."

He gave her a suspicious look. "Nothing?"

"Nope." She stopped swaying and leaned forward slightly. "Give up?"

He nodded silently. He was running out of ideas anyway. The girl reached into her left pocket and pulled out a small fabric bag, tied shut with a piece of string.

"Oh, I get it. It's a bag of rocks."

She giggled. "That's just silly! Why would I put rocks in a bag?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Why do girls do anything?"

She decided to ignore his comment and gave him a smug little smirk. "Wanna see what's inside?"

Jim was somewhat curious, but did not want to show it. He shrugged slightly, hoping that he didn't look too eager. As she untied the string, he leaned forward in his seat, trying to get glimpse at what was inside.

The girl noticed this and jerked the bag away. "No peeking!" she said in a mock-scolding tone.

Jim rolled his eyes. Whatever she had in there better be worth all this teasing.

She pulled the bag open and reached inside with one hand, then produced a small lollipop and held it out to him. "Want it?"

He blinked at her twice, and then looked at the candy she was offering him. It was bright green with creamy brown swirls in it. A caramel apple lollipop. They were a popular treat among children and one of Jim's personal favorites. He often saw other children at his school enjoying them, but they were too selfish to share them with anyone, especially with him. The lollipops were expensive, too, and his mother rarely had enough money to buy him such things. So to have someone willingly share one of these precious treasures with him was unexpected, to say the least.

He looked back at the girl again, who was still smiling and holding out the lollipop to him. Hesitantly, he uncurled his fingers from around his swing's rope and took the candy. He looked at it closely, as if it were a mirage that might disappear. It seemed real enough as he held it in his hand and observed it, hard candy attached to the top of a thin white stick and covered in a plastic wrapper.

A crinkling sound caught his attention. The red-haired girl had returned the little bag to her pocket and was unwrapping a green lollipop of her own. She wadded the plastic up and stuffed it into her pocket. As she seated herself in the swing on Jim's right, she placed the candy in her mouth and began to suck on it. Jim watched her as she pushed herself back and forth with her toes. She wasn't leaving. His plan had backfired. Sighing in defeat, he pulled the wrapper off his lollipop and stuck it in his mouth. The mixture of sour and sweet flavors lifted his spirits somewhat, but only barely.

The girl swallowed the liquid in her mouth, shifted the lollipop to one of her cheeks and looked at the boy beside her. "Sho, do you live here on Montreshor?" she asked, speech impaired by the candy.

Jim decided he had no choice but to reply. He removed his lollipop before speaking. "Yeah. I was born here. I've lived here my whole life."

She _hmmed_ and pulled out her lollipop as well. "That must be nice." she said, looking at the other children beyond them. "I'll bet you've got lots of friends to play with."

Jim began twisting the lollipop stick between his thumb and index finger absently. "Not really. I'm sort of a loner."

She looked at him again. "Why's that?"

He shrugged and licked his lollipop. "I dunno. I just like being by myself, I guess."

Her eyebrows came together in a frown. "Don't you get lonely?" she asked.

Jim pushed the lollipop back into his mouth. "No." he said flatly, indicating that he did not want to discuss the matter further. The girl seemed to sense this and looked back at the other children again, sucking on her lollipop silently. Jim liked the silence at first, but it soon became awkward. He was used to not speaking when he was by himself, but it felt strange to be with someone and not talk with them. He cleared his throat, unaccustomed to making conversation. "So, where do you come from?" he asked.

"Space." she said vaguely, then continued to suck on her lollipop,

"No, I mean which _planet_ are you from?" Jim clarified.

She shrugged. "None of them, really." she said. "My parents are both privateers and we all live on a ship."

Jim sat up straight, eyes becoming round and wide. "Really?"

The girl smiled proudly, glad to have finally caught his interest. She nodded.

"Wow!" Jim said, completely amazed. "That's so cool! What's it like?"

"Lots of work." the girl replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "We're always going from one place to another. But the stars are pretty, and sometimes we see whales. I like it best when we're on planets, though."

"How come?" Jim asked.

"Because then I can play with other kids." the girl explained.

He tilted his head to one side in curiosity. "Don't you have any brothers or sisters to play with?"

She shook her head. "No."

Jim looked sympathetic. "I'll bet you get pretty lonely."

"Sometimes. But I've got my mom and dad." She put the lollipop back in her mouth again. "What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, it's just me and my mom . . ." he trailed off, buried thoughts of his father beginning to return. Then he heard giggling. "Hey, what's so funny?"

The girl covered her mouth and shook her head, stifling another giggle. "It's nothing."

"Come on, tell me!" Jim demanded. "What are you laughing at?"

She pointed to his mouth and grinned. "It's your tongue! It's green!"

Jim blinked in surprise. "It is?" He stuck his tongue out and curled it up, crossing his eyes so he could see it. Sure enough, it had become bright green from his lollipop. At the sight of him with his tongue extended and his eyes crossed, the girl erupted into peals of laughter. As she laughed, Jim saw that her tongue had also changed color. His face broke out into a grin. "Hey, yours is green, too!"

The girl caught her breath and tried to stop laughing. "Really?" She stuck out her tongue to check. "Cool!" Then she stuck her fingers into her mouth and pulled it sideways, wagging her green tongue at Jim. "Blaaaaah!"

Jim bit his lower lip, desperately trying to control his laughter, but it was no use. He burst out in an uncontrollable fit of giggles, laughing harder than he could remember. Just as he was about to catch his breath, the girl made the same face again. Laughter assaulted him once more, causing him to convulse wildly. "Stop! Stop it!" he cried between giggles. "I can't breathe!"

He leaned backwards, trying to regain his breath, but he forgot that he was sitting on a swing. "Whoa!" Suddenly he lost his balance and fell off, landing on his back in the wet sand.

The girl jumped up in surprise. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" she exclaimed.

Jim stared up at her from the ground looking slightly dazed. His legs were propped up on the swing and his hands were up by his head. "I think so."

"Did you hit your head?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't hurt."

She smiled in relief and offered her hand to him. "Okay. Here, let me help you get up."

"I can do it myself." Jim protested, lifting himself up on his elbows. He lifted his feet off of the swing and tried to pick himself up, but one foot slipped in a puddle and he was flat on his back again.

The girl smiled down at him smugly. "You were saying?"

"Help me up." he grumbled.

She took his hand and helped him stand up. "There you go."

"Thanks." Jim said, looking slightly embarrassed. Then he realized that his hands were empty. "Hey, where's my-" He stopped short. Lying on the ground beside him was his lollipop, small bits of sand and gravel attached to its sticky surface. It was ruined.

Jim looked down at it in surprise at first, then his head drooped and his mouth straightened into a line. He could almost feel his tears returning, but he absolutely would not let them come out. _It's just a stupid piece of candy,_ he told himself, clenching his fists and teeth tightly. _It doesn't matter. It's not worth crying over._

The red-haired girl could only look at him with empathy. She also felt partially responsible for making him sad. Because of her, he had fallen from the swing and dropped his lollipop in the sand. She could see that he was upset and wanted to say something to make him feel better, but could not find the right words.

Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder so loud that the two children nearly jumped out of their skins. As the explosion diminished into a rumble, they looked to where the sound had come from. While they had been talking, neither of them had noticed the clouds that were filling the sky. Now it was completely charcoal gray, with some jagged white sparks of lightning flickering in the distance.

Jim continued to stare as another bolt of lightning flashed. "It's another storm." he said with no apparent feeling in his voice. "I have to go home before it starts raining."

"Yeah." the girl agreed in a tone almost as unemotional as his. Then her face brightened up. "Wait a minute!" She took her little bag out of her pocket again and quickly untied the string. Before Jim could say anything, she had taken another green lollipop out of it and held it out to him.

"Take it." she said emphatically. "You need it more than I do."

Jim was completely speechless. He stared at her, not understanding what she was doing. She looked back at him, green eyes insistent and serious. Wordlessly, Jim closed his fingers around the candy and nodded gratefully to her. "Will you be here again tomorrow?" he asked.

She smiled. "Maybe. We'll see." She then turned and began running across the playground. As she ran, she looked over her shoulder and waved to him. "'Bye!" she called.

Jim waved back at her almost mechanically, still holding the new lollipop in his other hand. He watched her run until her colorful little figure disappeared over a hill. Even as the rain began to fall, he could not bring himself to move from his spot.

The next afternoon, the sky was still cloudy but the rain had stopped, leaving behind even more puddles than the day before. However, Jim barely noticed them as he walked back to the park. When he got there, he went to the playground and sat on the same wet swing as yesterday, hoping the mysterious red-haired girl would return to him. He watched the other children as they played, not caring how wet his rear was getting.

About half an hour went by and she still hadn't arrived. Jim was growing impatient, but was still hopeful. Just then, he saw someone coming toward him, but it wasn't the red-haired girl. It was Harold Foster, a Benbonian boy and one of his classmates. Jim prayed that he wouldn't come any closer, but the froglike boy continued to approach him. He did not acknowledge Jim in any way and reached for the swing on his right side. Immediately, Jim smacked his hand down on the seat and glared at Harold as hard as he could.

Harold looked at him, startled. "Jeez! What's _your _problem, Hawkins?"

"This swing is saved." Jim replied, still glaring at him.

"Saved for who?" Harold snapped back. "_You _don't have any friends!"

Jim glared at him even harder and yanked the swing out of his grip. "It's _saved,_ Foster."

Harold snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure it is." he said sarcastically. "Whatever. I didn't want to swing next to a dweeb like you, anyway."

As he left, Jim scowled at Harold's back spitefully. "Yeah, well, who wants to swing next to _you?_" he mumbled under his breath.

Some other children tried to get on the swings after that, but each time Jim sent them away, saying that it was saved. He wanted to be sure that if the red-haired girl came back, she would be able to sit with him again.

Several hours later, the playground was empty. The sky was slowly becoming darker as Montressor's sun sank beneath the horizon. Jim's stomach gurgled noisily, indicating that it was time for dinner. He was still sitting on his swing, not standing up once the entire time he had been there. His pants were completely soaked now, his legs ached and he desperately needed to use the bathroom. Every rational part of his mind told him that he should go home. But deep inside of him, a small voice kept insisting that she might come.

She just _had_ to come. She'd said that she would. But what if she'd forgotten? Or what if she'd changed her mind? No, she couldn't do that. She couldn't be so mean. Not after how nice she'd been to him yesterday. She'd given him lollipops, the best kind there were. Nobody had ever done that for him. Then again, her parents were privateers. Spacers. She could have gone back to space. In that case, she was gone, and he would never see her again.

It suddenly dawned on him that he didn't know her name, nor had he told her his. He cursed himself for his stupidity, for not appreciating her kindness to him while she had been there. Now she was gone forever. Just like dad.

Slowly, Jim stood and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. As he walked across the playground, he folded his fingers around a hard, disc-shaped object wrapped in plastic with a stick protruding from it. It was all he had left of her.

* * *

_Seven years later_

"Jim, could you please clean your room today?" Sarah asked at the breakfast table.

Jim stared down at his porridge as he stirred it with his spoon. "Why? S'not that messy."

"Not that messy?" Sarah echoed, arching her eyebrows. "I can't even see the floor in there because of all the clothes, books, and who-knows-what-else you've got. When was the last time you cleaned it, anyway?"

Jim rubbed the gold hoop earring in his ear between his fingers as he thought. "Uh . . . about four years ago, I think."

"Well, that ends today." Sarah said as she stood up and began gathering dirty dishes. "You're not allowed to leave this house until your room is clean."

Jim's head snapped up. "What? That's not fair!"

"How is it not fair?" Sarah asked, giving him a challenging look.

He lowered his eyes in defeat. "I don't know." he admitted.

She smiled and ruffled his long bangs with one hand. "Don't look so gloomy, kid. It's not like I'm making you clean the whole house, is it?"

He smiled back, but only slightly. "No, I guess not."

Satisfied, Sarah picked up his empty glass and took it to the kitchen with her. As she left, Jim took a big bite from his porridge, gathering strength for the task ahead.

Hours later, Jim had successfully cleaned up his bedroom floor. His mother wasn't joking when she had said it was completely covered in his belongings. He was amazed by how much he had found buried there that he thought he had lost. He a dusty camera buried underneath a pile of dirty socks and underwear, an old textbook from his sixth grade history class, and something very green and fuzzy that smelled horrible. Jim had no idea what it was, but he happily disposed of it.

As he stood in the center of his newly cleaned room and admired his handiwork, his eyes fell on his desk. Like the floor had been, the poor piece of furniture was completely covered with junk. Jim wondered what sort of things he might find in there. He knelt on the floor, not used to actually feeling the wooden boards, pulled open one drawer and began removing things to throw away. Many of the things in there he hadn't seen in years. There was a tattered old notebook filled with drawings from when he was ten, a broken wristwatch from when he was twelve, several birthday cards from relatives whose names he didn't remember, and even a talking toy robot he had gotten for Christmas when he was four. All of these things ended up in the junk pile.

As he felt around in the next drawer, Jim's fingers touched something that made a crinkling sound. He touched the object again, feeling something round, flat and hard wrapped in plastic. There was a thin stick extending from the wrapper. Jim took it between his fingers and pulled the object from the drawer. It was a lollipop, bright green with creamy brown swirls. Its plastic wrapper was covered with a thin layer of dust.

As Jim looked at it, words and images began to appear in his mind, like memories from a dream. Bits and pieces of a long forgotten conversation faded in and out, along with colors and forms that shifted from one to another. One image in particular kept appearing over and over.

A little girl with red hair that he did not recognize, whose name he did not know.

Desert island.

Viridian Flu.

Rocks.

Lollipops.

Privateers.

Green tongue.

Dark sky.

"Jim?"

The voices and images vanished, leaving him kneeling on the floor holding a dusty old lollipop in his hand.

"Jim?" It was his mother's voice calling him from downstairs.

"Yeah, mom?" he called back.

"Lunch is ready! Come downstairs!"

"Okay, I'll be right there!"

Tossing the lollipop into the junk pile, Jim stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets. The red-haired girl and all the things that had brought her were gone from his mind. As he walked down the stairs, two young voices sounded in his head, as if from very far away.

_"Will you be here again tomorrow?"_

_"Maybe. We'll see. 'Bye!"_

And then they were gone.

**_The End_**

* * *

Author's Note: I wrote this in order to overcome a serious case of writer's block while working on my other fanfic. I first got the idea for it while making drawings of Jim and my character Lorraine (that's who the girl was, in case you haven't been reading "Swashbuckled") as children, and started thinking about what might have happened if they'd met back then. Then I was inspired by the spring weather here in Ohio and my favorite candy, caramel apple lollipops.

I guess this is sort of a prequel to my other story, but it's not meant to connect to it. It's just a heartfelt, self-contained tale I wanted to write just for the fun of it, and catch a glimpse of Lorraine's past, as well. I guarantee neither she nor Jim will remember their meeting on the playground ever again. I mean, think about it; how much do _you remember from nine years ago?_


End file.
